The Washington Nationals have announced that Syracuse Chiefs manager Randy Knorr will join the staff as bench coach.

The move means the Nationals will be hiring a fourth manager in as many years as the Chiefs' parent team.

"I know our staff, on the minor-league side, are excited for Randy and his opportunity,'' said Doug Harris, director of player development for Washington,

Harris had no information yet on Knorr's successor.

"We're going to work through some things here. We will be making a decision in due time,'' he said.

The move apparently caught the Chiefs by surprise. Just a couple of days ago, General Manager John Simone announced that Knorr would return at the team's annual stockholders' meeting.

After retiring from a 19-year playing career in 2004, Knorr has spent the last seven seasons as either a big league coach or minor league manager in the Nationals organization.

During parts of six seasons managing in the Nationals chain, Knorr has worked with 75 percent of the players on Washington’s current 40-man roster, including: Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, John Lannan, Drew Storen, Stephen Strasburg, Chien-Ming Wang, Ryan Zimmerman and Jordan Zimmermann.

Knorr has posted a 384-380 (.503) minor league managerial mark with winning records in three of his five full seasons as skipper. He began his career on the bench in 2005 with Savannah of the Single-A South Atlantic League.

In 2008, his final of three seasons with Single-A Potomac, Knorr skippered the Nationals to their first-ever Carolina League Championship and the first domestic title won by a Nationals affiliate since the team relocated to The District in 2005. He also managed the Scottsdale Scorpions to a 2010 Arizona Fall League Championship.

Knorr managed at Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Knorr joins Washington’s big league coaching staff for the third time. He served as Nationals bullpen coach for the final three months of the 2006 season and the entire ’09 campaign.

In 253 big league games as a catcher with Toronto (1991-95), Houston (1996-97, ‘99), Florida (1998), Texas (2000) and Montreal (2001), Knorr hit .227 with 24 home runs and 88 RBI. He earned a pair of World Series rings with the Blue Jays in 1993 and ‘94.